Black theater has deep seated roots since the 1700’s, but a lot has been omitted throughout history because of the oppression of African Americans. In the 1700’s, musicals portrayed black people as dumb, and they had no real value unlike white characters. In the 1800’s, “Tom shows” focused on antislavery and helped bring the civil war. This let black singers work on stage for the first time. Minstrelsy began around the 1840’s, focusing on the dance of black characters. The Creole Show was a musical burlesque with black show girls and opened in Chicago and New York. 1902 was when blacks made history on Broadway. Shuffle Along was the biggest black musical in Broadway in 1921. In the 1920’s, nightlife flourished in Harlem. It was the beginning of cultural and political awareness. The end of the twenties had new groups such as the Negro Art Theatre. When Roosevelt was elected, he made the Federal Theatre and assigned the Negro Theatre. This gave black actors opportunity to express themselves. During WWII, black artists struggles to keep theatre in Harlem alive. The 50’s/60’s saw many all black shows unfold, but Broadway declined with rise of TV. Black artists moved from Harlem and went commercial. Black theatre in the late 60’s was a recurrence of black theatre movement. The seventies had black directors in Broadway like Gilbert Moses.